This 4-Player LEGO Chessboard Turns The Game Into Strategic Chaos

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Four-player chess is not some internet-era gimmick dreamed up for group game nights. Variants of it have existed for centuries, from Indian Chaturaji played with dice, to Victorian England’s fascination with elaborate cross-shaped boards designed specifically to seat four rivals at once. The format never quite dethroned standard chess in popularity, mostly because building a proper four-sided board was always a pain, and because the rules needed serious rethinking to keep games from spiraling into total mayhem. It is a format that rewards ambition and punishes anyone who tries to wing it.

That is precisely the gap LEGO Ideas creator CozyBuildingBlocks7126 decided to fill, with a physical, brick-built four-player chessboard that revives the format for a new generation of players, dice optional. The design leans into a cross-shaped layout, four full armies in distinct colors, and, most interestingly, a scoring system engineered specifically to make four-way chess feel less like chaos and more like calculated risk. It is a smart, tactile answer to a format that has always deserved better hardware.

Designer: CozyBuildingBlocks7126

The board itself is the first thing that grabs you, a cross-shaped slab built from 852 pieces and measuring a generous 51.2 by 51.2 centimeters, large enough to comfortably seat four full armies without anyone’s rooks bumping elbows. Blue, yellow, green, and red pieces line up along their respective arms of the cross, and the notched corners where each arm meets the central board are a genuinely clever piece of structural design, letting four ranks sit flush against each other without any awkward diagonal overlap. It reads almost like a plus sign built out of chessboard, which is exactly the kind of geometric problem-solving that separates a thoughtful MOC (my own creation) from a simple recolor job.

My favorite detail, though, is the scoring system, because this is where the design stops being a novelty and starts being a genuine strategic rethink. Pawns promote at the eighth rank instead of the fourteenth, landing them mid-board rather than at the enemy’s doorstep. Bishops are worth five points instead of three, queens born from promoted pawns are quietly capped at just one point, and a checkmate alone is worth a hefty twenty points. Captured kings leave their armies “dead” on the board, meaning their pieces can still be captured but no longer award points to whoever takes them. The result is a game where getting checkmated does not necessarily mean losing, since a well-timed capture can vault you into first or second place even after your king falls. That is a wonderfully devious wrinkle for a build that could have coasted on novelty alone.

The set is still early in its LEGO Ideas run, sitting at 105 supporters with 424 days left on the clock to reach the first milestone of 1,000. It has a long runway ahead before the official 10,000-vote threshold that triggers a LEGO review, but for anyone who has ever wanted to drag chess off the screen and back onto a real table, four opponents included, this is a build worth rallying behind. You can head to the LEGO Ideas page and cast your vote here.

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This $79 Kids’ Wi-Fi Phone Brings Back the Ability to Slam Down a Receiver Like It’s 1995

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The landline died because of the wire, not because of the idea. A physical phone tethered to a wall socket made sense in 1985 and made increasingly less sense every year after, until entire households simply stopped bothering to replace them. Pinwheel’s new release makes the case that the object itself, the tactile handset, the dedicated cradle, the single purpose design, was worth keeping around long after the copper wiring became a liability. Strip out the jack and run the whole thing over Wi-Fi instead, and suddenly a nostalgia object becomes a genuinely practical piece of furniture again. That is the quiet design insight buried inside what looks, at first glance, like a novelty throwback.

Called Pinwheel Home, the device targets kids aged 5 to 10 who need a way to reach approved contacts without inheriting a full smartphone. It plugs into any outlet and pairs with Wi-Fi, meaning it can sit on a kitchen counter or a bedroom shelf without a technician ever showing up. Two versions exist, the smaller Home Spark at 68 dollars and the larger, more decorated Home Classic at 79 dollars, both sold directly through Pinwheel ahead of an Amazon release this fall. Parents control the whole experience through Pinwheel’s Caregiver Portal, approving every contact and setting the hours calls are allowed. The company already makes kid smartwatches, so this slots into a lineup built specifically around delaying smartphone ownership.

Designer: Pinwheel

That oversized handset is not just a styling choice, it is the entire emotional payload of the product. Somewhere in the last two decades, ending a phone call turned into touching a red icon on glass, a gesture with all the drama of dismissing a notification. Home Classic hands a kid an actual weighted receiver and an actual spring loaded cradle, and the moment a call ends, physics takes over. Slam it down hard enough after telling a sibling they are wrong about something, and the whole base rattles. Rest it gently after a call with grandma, and it clicks shut soft as a whisper. That range, from petty dramatic slam to quiet contented click, is a form of emotional expression a swipe gesture has never once offered a five year old, and Pinwheel built the entire handset geometry around making that range possible.

Calling another Pinwheel Home device is free, routed through the company’s own Circle network using a short internal code instead of a standard phone number. Reaching an actual mobile number, like a grandparent’s cell phone, requires a subscription, either 6.99 dollars monthly for a real 10-digit number and five approved contacts, or 9.99 dollars monthly to remove that contact ceiling. Emergency calling stays free no matter what plan a family is on, which is the one place Pinwheel clearly refused to charge across. Home Classic’s stickers might be the hook that gets a kid excited, but the free-versus-paid split is the part parents will actually feel every month.

Pinwheel has already teased three-way calling and tighter integration with its kids’ smartwatches, hinting that a child’s number and approved contacts could eventually follow them from the countertop straight onto their wrist as they get older. That continuity is the real long game here, not the retro shell. A phone that lets a kid slam down a receiver like they mean it sounds like a gimmick, until you realize it might be the only piece of hardware left teaching an entire generation how satisfying hanging up used to feel.

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This 205-HP handcrafted hyperbike looks like it rode straight out of a Sci-Fi movie

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Diamond Atelier has side stepped the traditional custom motorcycle scene with the DA#22 ULTRON, a one-of-a-kind machine that the Munich-based workshop describes as the world’s first hyperbike. Publicly revealed at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed, the road-legal prototype is designed to narrow down the gap between high-performance superbikes and exclusive hypercars.

Rather than modifying an existing motorcycle with premium components, Diamond Atelier began the project by creating a completely new design language before engineering the mechanical package around it. Powering the DA#22 is KTM’s proven 1,301cc LC8 V-twin engine sourced from the 1290 Super Duke. Tuned to produce more than 205 horsepower, the engine delivers performance that places the motorcycle firmly in superbike territory.

Designer: Diamond Atelier

Complementing the potent powertrain is a specially developed suspension package from Wilbers, featuring a TYPE 46 RR front fork inspired by World Superbike technology and a bespoke rear shock tailored specifically for the compact layout of the project. Every major component was selected to ensure that the motorcycle remains serviceable despite its unconventional packaging. The most striking feature of the DA#22 is undoubtedly its handcrafted aluminum bodywork. Every panel was individually shaped by Marvin Diehl of KRT Framework over a period exceeding 800 hours.

Instead of exposing the motorcycle’s mechanical components like a conventional naked bike, the sculpted aluminum shell forms a seamless surface with dramatically shortened proportions, a floating tail section, hidden electronics, and a cockpit concealed beneath a recessed glass panel. The design gives the motorcycle an unmistakable silhouette that looks unlike any current production model. Diamond Atelier also incorporated advanced manufacturing techniques throughout the project. Several key components, including the titanium exhaust system and the upper triple clamp, were produced using 3D printing by Aconity3D. Formula 1-inspired switchgear, an illuminated clutch cover with a glass inspection window, and precision-machined controls supplied by specialist partners further reinforce the machine’s premium engineering.

Even the upper triple clamp features a genuine diamond mounted in sterling silver, serving as a subtle reference to the company’s name rather than a purely decorative addition. Perhaps the most innovative element is the motorcycle’s unique electroluminescent paint. Developed exclusively for the prototype by Alex Bloch of Stilbruch Lack, the special coating emits a deep red glow when an electrical current is applied, allowing the bodywork itself to become the light source without relying on external LEDs. According to Diamond Atelier, only a single liter of this custom paint formulation was ever produced, and the entire batch was used on the DA#22, ensuring the finish can never be exactly replicated.

Although the DA#22 remains a prototype, Diamond Atelier sees it as the beginning of an ultra-exclusive series that explores new possibilities in motorcycle design. Combining handcrafted coachbuilding techniques and extreme performance, the bike a fresh interpretation of what a flagship motorcycle can be. Rather than simply chasing speed or luxury alone, it demonstrates how engineering, craftsmanship, and design can come together to create an entirely new category.

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Nobody Expected a $28 Folding Clipboard to Be This Well Thought Out

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The clipboard is one of those objects that hasn’t changed much because the problem it solves seems too simple to revisit. It holds paper flat while you write, and that’s essentially the brief it’s been fulfilling for decades. The rigidity that makes it useful is also what makes it awkward to carry. Most are sized for A4, and that footprint doesn’t get smaller just because you’re done with it.

Lihit Lab’s A-2068 Foldable Clipboard addresses that directly. It’s an A4-sized clipboard that folds in half at the midpoint, reducing its footprint to A5 for transport, then locks back open flat and rigid when you’re ready to write again. A slider on the side controls the fold, and the result is something that behaves like a proper clipboard when you need it and a compact document folder when you don’t.

Designer: Lihit Lab.

The slider is the mechanical decision that makes the whole thing work. Once the board is open, it locks both halves flush and stiff, so there’s no flex in the writing surface while you’re standing or moving around. That matters on a jobsite, at a site survey, or anywhere you’re filling out forms away from a desk. Clipboards flex when they shouldn’t, and this one addresses that specifically.

The clip is a lock-function type that can be loaded while the board is open, so clipping down a stack of pages doesn’t require holding the board shut with one hand while fumbling with the other. A paper stopper at the bottom keeps document edges flush when the board is folded closed, and a rubber band wraps around the outside during transit so nothing comes loose inside a bag.

The body is polypropylene, with the binder and slider made from ABS resin, and the elastic band from polyester and polyurethane. Open, it measures 234mm x 339mm and is just 14mm thick. Folded, the height drops to 165mm. The clip holds up to 15 sheets of copy paper, which covers most field documentation. It comes in three colorways: Terracotta Orange, Slate Blue, and Ivory.

Most people who regularly carry clipboards to fieldwork have had to choose between the convenience of a flat writing surface and the awkwardness of a full-sized board in a bag. Storage clipboards try to solve this by adding internal compartments, but they tend to get thicker rather than smaller. The A-2068 takes a different route by reducing the form factor through folding rather than adding more material around the sides.

The A-2068 retails for ¥1,300 in Japan and is available internationally through specialty stationery shops at around $28. It’s the kind of update to a familiar object that’s easy to overlook until you’ve actually had to carry a full-sized clipboard across a job site and back again. The writing surface, the clip, and the capacity are all exactly what you’d expect. It just happens to fold in half.

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